Apple

Amazon's app store is only a year old and already it’s giving Google Play and the Apple app store some serious competition. Amazon knows how to do ecommerce, and they’re showing it in how they get the attention of the ones who provide the products: mobile app developers.

Amazonapps overseer is Aaron Rubenson. In a recent interview, Rubenson gave a little hint as to why their app business has grown so fast. “When you think about some of the things that Amazon does that other platforms don’t, we have this huge physical capability to ship stuff around the world,” Rubenson said. “Games will sell plush toys, but you could imagine other scenarios where a recipes app could send cookbooks.”

Amazon does seem to like change and manages it well.

Amazon recently started letting developers offer in-app purchases of physical goods, which will be a big deal for companies like Angry Birds-maker Rovio, Talking Friends-maker Outfit7, Russia’s Zeptolab and more.

Amazon’s Game Circle offers social features to gamers like the ability to share achievements and leaderboards. It can save a gamer’s progress in the cloud, so that changing devices doesn’t require restarting a game.

Last year, Amazon had some controversial pricing that frustrated developers. It had all the power when it came to the amount to charge for apps. Since developers are paid a percentage based on of what their apps sell for a big discount meant lost income for the designer. The company recently changed this so that developers earn 70 percent of what they originally priced their apps at, even if Amazon discounts their work. This is the same arrangement that Google Play and Apple Apps stores give their designers.

Amazon just opened its store to five international markets, so these changes are based on what’s been going on in the U.S. They have a long way to go before they're a big contender for Apple and Google app business, but the new kid seems to be doing it right.

While Apple unleashed the iPhone 5 last week, they’re being a little stingier with the Lightening connector – they aren’t in stores yet, and online orders won’t ship until October. This is causing all kinds of conniptions among even Apple’s most loyal fans.

It was inevitable that Apple had to re-engineer its 10-year old 30 pin adapter. The Lightning’s eight-pin, all-digital connector is smaller, more durable and a necessity for the evolution of all Apple devices. But, the impact of the connector change on the whole system is just getting through to many Apple owners.

Not only will you need the adapter to connect your iPhone 5 to all the old accessories and their 30 pin plug-ins, more substantial systems like your BMW’s electronic interface and the workout equipment at your gym will be useless without the Lightning adapter. Anywhere that there are iPhone-compatible systems will be affected.

BMW is one of the companies that is already on the problem. They’ve made it clear to car owners that they will still be able to listen to music, podcasts and other audio over the built-in stereo, so yes, the tunes will continue to flow. However, the automaker’s PlugIn feature – enabling video playback while stationary and the mirrored Apple interface – is officially out.

Have you thought about how Apple’s connector change is going to affect your Apple devices?

If see you someone with an iPhone in their hand and they look a little lost, bring up Google Maps on your phone and get them straightened out. Apple dumped Google Maps for their own iOS 6 mapping function, and the early word is that it’s terrible.

A city is in the ocean, a farm is now an airport, and highways end in the middle of nowhere.There’s even a disturbing screenshot of a post-apocalyptic Brooklyn Bridge.

Welcome to the new world of Apple Maps that iPhone and iPad users were faced with after they downloaded the new iOS 6

The problems are so widespread that a new Tumblr blog, called The Amazing iOS 6 Maps, has been set up for uses to register their grievances about wrong turns, poor graphics, and streets that have been deleted from the map. And once you've downloaded iOS 6 there's no going back. It erases Google Maps from your device.

We’ve been hearing about the fantastic-ness of Apple’s iOS 6 for way too long, but at last it’s on the street. For those who haven’t already snapped it into your devices, it’s time to get to it.

Download yours by going to Settings > General > Software Update, or head to iTunes and pull it in. If you have any trouble with the connection to Apple or the speed of the download, Apple is pleading for patience. Between iPhone 5 pre-orders and iOS 6 downloads, Apple’s servers have been slammed.

Besides, the iOS 6 update is massive update. - clocking in at a hefty 2.5 GB. It may take some time to get an "over the air" upgrade.

Not all phone, tablet and iPod generations will be able to handle iOS 6. Older devices don’t have all the features they need to operate on a full-blown iOS 6 version You’ve got to have an iPhone 3GS or newer, iPod Touch 4th generation or newer or an iPad 2.

TechCrunch put together a great summary of what device gets what features.

Which Apple devices can manage which iOS 6 features. Chart courtesy of TechCrunch.

It’s too bad that the iPhone 5 and iPod touch 5th gen are the only devices that are up to the challenge of a fully-loaded iOS 6. But it's also one more reason to get in line for your iPhone 5 today.

But that last ruling is unlikely to put an end to the drama between the two smartphone makers, even if it means taking the fight out of the courtroom and into the streets. In fact, Samsung has done just that.

Just days after Apple's iPhone 5 unveiling, Samsung's latest ad for the Galaxy S3 takes direct aim at the newest iPhone incarnation.

The ad, which compares the two smartphones' capabilities, and calls out the iPhone 5 by name, bears the statement: “It doesn't take a genius.” Presumably, the “it” in question is figuring out the Galaxy S3 is "better."

The timeliness of the ad, which must have been prepared based on specs obtained before Apple's September 12 unveiling, led 9to5Mac to quip: “you can say a lot of things about Samsung, but one thing you can’t say is that they are slow.”

Indeed, Samsung pumped that one out pretty quickly. But that's no surprise considering this isn't the first anti-Apple ad the company's run. Back when they were promoting the Galaxy S2, they slammed the iPhone with an ad making fun of Apple fanatics, claiming “the next big thing is already here.”

This time, however, Samsung's Apple-bashing is more delicately directed at the company, not its users, and that may just work. At the very least, the ad should make people feel smart for choosing a Galaxy, rather than stupid for standing in line at the Apple Store.

What do you think of Samsung's new ad? Is it tasteful? Accurate? Do you think it'll work? Leave your opinion in the comments section.

The iPhone 5 is priced at $199 for a 16GB version, $299 for a 32GB version and $399 for a 64GB version. Getting phones at those prices from AT&T, Sprint and Verizon require a two-year contract.

Apple’s website now shows the unlocked pricing for the iPhone 5.The site’s compare tool shows that the 16GB model starts at $649, the 32GB at $749, and the 64GB at $849.

If you’re in the mood for an Apple iPhone but don’t mind an older version, Apple has their usually deal for you. They’ve reduced the price of the 16GB iPhone 4S by $100 to $99. The 16GB iPhone 4 is now free. The discounts require a two-year contract with the big three U.S. mobile carriers.

Humankind's fascination with gadgets can only be rivalled by our longstanding fascination with water.

So, even though we quake with fear at the thought of submerging our iPads, iPhones and other devices, it shouldn't really surprise us that, when people go swimming or surfing, they want to take their tablet or smartphone along.

We've already seen something of the waterproofing trend from LifeProof – the San Diego-based company boasts what's been called the slimmest waterproof case for iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S.

This time, LifeProof has taken its efforts to tablets, with the waterproof Nüüd iPad case. The product gets its name from the fact that there's actually no screen covering – your iPad's naked glass screen is already waterproof, and adding an extra film on top only reduces clarity.

Instead, the Nüüd case seals around the glass and provides a waterproof backing for the rest of the iPad. There's also access at the bottom for charging and syncing, so you don't have to constantly take the case off and put it back on again.

As Gadgetwise points out, you still may not want to do any serious snorkeling with your iPad, since it wasn't really designed for that. But the new iPad case is great for poolside, a day at the beach, or any other routine encounter with water.

You may swear to have never texted on the toilet, but show me the techie who says they've never brought their phone or tablet into the bathroom, and I'll show you a liar. In any case, waterproofing just makes solid sense.

Any survival expert will tell you that where there's life, there's water. But as we at Pure Mobile know, where there's life, there's also tech.

Yesterday an awesome and inspiring event took place in San Francisco, but it didn’t have anything to do with Apple’s big day. It was all about pi.

Up in the San Francisco sky three jets succeeded in writing the first 10,000 numbers of pi. That’s right, pi: the old ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter. Most of us know it from high school math class as “3.14159… - the number that never ends.

The planes wrote the numerals in smoke in dot matrix format a quarter-mile high. Each plane wrote every third number in a string that extended for 150 miles around San Francisco.

An artist and a design company came up with this incredibly creative work of art. They may have just eclipsed the launch of the latest flagship product of one of the most innovative companies in the world. As expected, Apple provided a terrific iPhone, and we can’t wait to see the iPad mini unveiling. The project on the ground was impressive, but it wasn't as hypnotic as what Apple used to deliver. But those on the ground couldn’t keep their eyes off what was happening in the sky.

The big Apple event everyone was waiting for took place today. Now we have the iPhone 5 to line up for later this month.

Here is a summary of what the iPhone 5 is all about:

A 4-inch screen with a resolution of 1,136 x 640 or 326 pixels per inch - still a “retina” display, as Apple defines it. The larger screen has a widescreen 16:9 aspect ratio. The iPhone 5 is a little bit longer because of this, but it accommodates six rows of apps on the screen: five rows on the “pages” along with the permanent single row along the bottom.

The case is made of aluminum and measures 7.6mm thick - 18 percent thinner than the iPhone 4S. It's also 20 percent lighter at 112 grams.

The new Retina panel is 1136 x 640, which clocks in at 326ppi. It also provides better color saturation with full sRGB rendering.

The iPhone's A6 processor has been significantly shrunk down in size yet gives more powerful performance. The claim is that it doubles CPU and graphics capabilities. The result is pages loading up 2.1x faster than iPhone 4’s speed.

The smaller processor is also more energy efficient. It should provide 8 hours of talk time even with the LTE. When using Wi-Fi you should get 10 hours of life out of the device.

The camera is about the same as the one in the iPhone 4S, just a little bit slimmer. It's a backlit 8 megapixel sensor with a 5 element lens and an f/2.4 aperture. The shutter speed is supposed to be 40 percent faster. There's also a new panoramic shooting mode.

The iWork suite, Garage Band and iMovie have all been updated.

Older apps will still work, and they’ll be displayed in a letterbox format until Apple provides an update.

Yes, the iPhone 5 has high-speed 4G LTE capability and still has HSPA+, EV-DO and EDGE capability. In the U.S., AT&T, Sprint and Verizon will all support its 4G LTE connectivity. In Canada, Rogers, Telus and Bell will also have 4G.

The launch of the iPhone 5 will undoubtedly put Apple back on top. Over the last quarter, sales of the older iPhone models have dropped significantly - from 35.1 million to 26 million. That’s all going to change now. Some analysts are predicting Apple will sell 10 million units in just the first three weeks.

“The cases were created by case manufacturers in anticipation of the upcoming models. Designs are based on leaked specs coming out of Foxconn factories,” says MacRumors.

While the new iPhone 5 case is taller than the iPhone 4S, the case for the iPad mini is smaller than the current iPad 3 case

If the specs are right, those who believe bigger is better will be happy to know that the new iPhone 5 will in fact be larger than the current iPhone 4S, though it'll just be taller, not wider, with a 4” diagonal screen.

As for those who think less is more, the case designed for the new iPad Mini is smaller than the iPad 3 case shown in the image, but not significantly. The new device is rumored to have a 7.85” screen.

The size comparison as outlined by MacRumors

As Gizmodo noted, “ if that iPad Mini shell is accurate, the realization that it's not a total dwarf next to the 10-inch iPad, kinda makes the idea of one all the more tantalizing.”

For now, it's all just speculation, but we're likely to have at least part of the truth on September 12th, when Apple's expected to unveil the iPhone 5 at a press conference. However, we'll have to wait a little longer to see the new iPad Mini, which is expected to be unveiled at some point in October.